Here This Song and Remember
by pinkpower
Summary: Cloud and Zack come across a young orphan by the name of Aery, now trying to pass her off as the long lost dutchess, Aeris Cetra. Final Fantasy VII characters set to Anastia. CloudxAeris
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.**

**Author's Note: I guess this is sort of an Anastasia rip-off, so I'll try to rephrase as many things as I possibly can and keep everybody in character, so this will be original. The italicized words are the narration and the regular print isn't. Read and review!**

_There once was a time, not so long ago, when we all lived in a magical world of luxurious palaces and magnificent parties. The year was 1916 and beloved son, Gast Cetra, was the King of the eastern continent. He was arguably one of the best rulers in the world, or so I've heard from the whispers of his people. You can only imagine how proud I am of my son-my Gast._

_We were celebrating the 300__th__ anniversary of the Cetra reign in a palace just outside of Nibelheim. Everybody was so alive. They all wanted the night to go on for eternity and so did I. To see my family so happy was so wonderful and gave me a peace that I have never felt before. I loved all these parties. It was rare I ever saw my family, now that I lived in Midgar. It had felt like a million years since I had seen them last, and it was good to all see them smiling._

_On that night, my youngest grand daughter, Aeris, was the life and soul of the party. She had been dancing with her father as I had walked in. She waved at me, and came running towards me as I sat down on my throne. Aeris had a picture in her hands, and she was ready to shove it into my face. But, she didn't. Instead, she had stopped herself, remembering she was supposed to be acting like a graceful princess, and calmly placed the drawing in my hands._

"_Thank you, Aeris. I shall keep it always." I told her, as we lightly hugged each other._

A young boy, looking to be eight-years of age with spiky-blonde hair, came sneaking out of the kitchen. He sunk his teeth into an apple, lightly munching on it as he watched grandmother and granddaughter exchange gifts.

_She begged me not to return to Midgar, so I gave her a present that would make the separation easier for the both of us. Aeris gasped once she that a small, circular box was resting on the palm of my hand. I couldn't help, but laugh at her excitement._

"_Is this for me? Is it a jewelry box?" She asked me. Her emerald eyes turned their attention away from me and the gift, to watch something that must have been going on behind me._

A man with a large mustache had also walked out of the kitchen. Unlike the boy, who was dressed in working clothes, this man had fancy tux on. Once his eyes had landed on the boy, he was furious. He roughly grabbed the boy's shoulders, pulling him towards the kitchen. "Cloud, you belong in the kitchen!"

_Aeris's eyes returned. I opened the box with the necklace that was hanging around my neck. It opened slowly. It had her father and I dancing to our lullaby. "It plays our lullaby," she said._

"_From now on, when you go to bed at night, you'll always have this by your side. When you open it up, you can pretend that it is me singing." I told her._

_On the wind_

_Cross the sea_

_Here this song_

_And remember_

_Soon you'll be_

_Home with me_

_Once upon a December_

_I handed her my necklace, "Read what it says."_

_She smiled at me and brought the necklace close to her face. On it the metal, blue flower was engraved, "Always in Midgar." Aeris looked at me, her face lighting up._

"_Oh, Grandma! Really?" She hugged me tightly, and I laughed hugging her back. If only things with would have stayed like that forever._

_We would never be together in Midgar. A dark shadow had descended on the home of the Cetras. His name was Sephiroth. When we first knew him, we had all thought he was a holy man, but we were dangerously wrong. We had found out that he was a cruel and despicable._

"_How dare you return to the palace?" My son yelled, pointing at Sephiroth angrily._

"_But we are friends, Gast. You know that." Sephiroth laughed._

"_Friend? You are a traitor. Get out! Go!" Gast yelled._

"_Do you really think you can get rid of me so easily, Gast? Do you? It is I you will be the end of you. By the holy powers invested in me, your family is cursed. Mark me words, within the night, every Cetra here will be gone forever! My soul shall not be put to sleep until I see the end of all Cetras!" Sephiroth exclaimed. With his neon green material, Sephiroth managed to make a large chandler fall to the ground._

_Consumed by his loathing for the Cetra family, Sephiroth sold his soul for the powers to destroy each and every one of them. From that night on, a darkness had been cast over our country that would soon destroy our lives forever._

_Within the hour, all of us were running, trying to escape the palace and the guards. They all had turned on us and were ready to commit murder. Finally, when Aeris and I were ready to leave, we couldn't. "My music box!" She exclaimed, running for her room. I started running after her, not caring about the small _

_gift. Aeris was much more important to me. We had finally reached her room and begged her to hurry. She found in her doll house._

_A boy came in, rushing us out of the room. "Hurry, please come this way, out of the servant's quarters." I heard a thump, realizing it could have been only one thing._

"_My music box!"_

"_Go! Please, go!" The boy shouted, shutting the door._

A small cat tried peaking through the well-cleaned windows. "She's getting away!"

SOLDIERS burst through the door. "Where are they, boy?" he demanded. Before the boy could even reply, the SOLDIER hit him with his rifle, knocking the chocobo-haired boy out, with the music box right by his hand.

_Finally, we were out of the palace and running. Both of us were tired and Aeris had been struggling to keep up me. We both stopped when somebody jumping on top of her ankle. "Sephiroth!" I gapsed._

"_Let me go," Aeris cried._

"_You'll never escape from me child. Never." He promised. There was hatred in his eyes that sent a chill down my spine, giving me more determination to help my granddaughter. Thankfully, the frozen lake had cracked, and he sunk. I don't think I have ever been so happy for Winter._

"Master!" the mechanical cat yelled.

"Caith, help me!"

_At least we reached the busy trains. "Aeris, hurry!" A man grabbed my hand and helped me on. Aeris, however, hadn't been so fortunate. She kept running as our hands reached out for each other. It seemed like mere seconds when she had finally grabbed on to mine, but that relief was soon stolen from me as she could no longer keep up._

_Aeris has fallen on her back with a loud thump. "No! Aeris!" I wanted to get off the train and go back to help her, but the main that had helped me before had kept me back._

_Many lives had been corrupted and destroyed in that one night. My son and his family were now gone to us forever. And my Aeris, my sweet Aeris, she would never be with me. I suppose I've always known this, but I've kept searching for all these years, but I have never found her._

_Yours Truly,_

_Elmyra Cetra_


	2. Journey to the Past

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.**

It had been fifteen years since the fall of the Cetra rule and every day that had gone by had been a painful reminder. People were miserable on the streets Nibelheim and the rest of the eastern continent. Every single day had been a struggle to survive. Many people had resorted to the life and styles of scam artists. That included the young, Cloud Strife and his best friend, Zack Fair. The two men were good at what they did, and didn't let mere sense of right and wrong stand in their way.

After the report that had stated that the Princess Aeris had gone missing, Cloud devoted his life to learning everything about the Cetras from the time each one of them woke up to what they wore on the holidays. He had been sincerely interested in knowing about the diseased family line. Unfortunately for Cloud, he never had a chance to put that knowledge to good use that was, until, he realized that if he found the perfect girl to pass off as Aeris, then he would be filthy, stinking rich once he convinced the empress.

Of course, Cloud had to include Zack into his plan, being best friends and what not. At first, Zack had been unsure about this plan and whether or not they would be able to pull it off. However, when the cash had been mentioned, Zack had been convinced to try it out with his best buddy.

"All we need is the perfect girl to play the part of Princess Aeris." Cloud stated.

"Are you sure we should be doing this, Cloud? Just wanting to fool the empress and all." Zack questioned.

"What do we care? This is for the money. Besides, if the empress buys it, think about how happy she will be to be reunited with her long lost grand daughter. Trust me, Zack, we'll be doing her a world of good, and we deserve a reward." Cloud explained.

"Good point," the raven-haired man nodded in agreement. "So, when do we start searching for Princess Aeris?"

Cloud shrugged, "Now?"

"Sure," Zack replied.

The two best friends walked into the streets of Nibelheim, hunting for their royal dutchess.

Meanwhile, the twenty- three year old, orphan Aery wore the clothes of a peasant. She walked out of the orphanage where she had been staying since she was eight- years old. She wore a yellow hat on the top of head while one of the workers of the orphanage led her to a large, black gate. The girl waved to all of her younger friends. Over the years, she had seen many of the kids come and go, but every each one of them always seemed to warm up to Aery quickly. There was just a familiarity that they all adored about, except for Scarlet, this.

Scarlet was always like the evil stepmother in_ Cinderella_ that Aery never wanted to have. In ways, Scarlet had always frightened the young children that stayed at the orphanage. There few children that 

she was hardly ever nice to. But, so long as you did chores day and night around the two-story house, Scarlet liked you. Although, Aery did her fair share of the work that had to be done, she strongly believed that Scarlet shouldn't have been allowed to treat those kids like slaves; therefore, she never worked day and night just to please the easily-annoyed blond. Often that would get Aery into a whole lot of trouble, but she never backed down from what she strongly she believed to right. Yet, nothing sickened Scarlet more, when Aery would just smile at her, even when Scarlet did her very worst to the young girl. And, Aery knew that, which is why she secretly took great satisfaction in seeing Scarlet be afraid.

"Bye, everybody! Bye!" Aery shouted, still waving, hearing the shouts of the younger voices. "See ya!"

Scarlet rolled her eyes, shivering with her inner hatred for the girl. "Well, Aery, I can't say it's been great knowing you, but I'll be sad to see you go."

"Really?" Aery questioned, suspiciously.

"No," Scarlet giggled deviously, "but didn't you like hearing it, anyway? It's just one less mouth to feed."

"I'm sure there's a heart somewhere deep down." The brunette smirked, trudging through the snow.

"How nice of you, child, but you're still a pain in my rump. Now, you do know how to get to Gongaga, don't you? I wouldn't want you to get lost in the snow and die." Scarlet said.

"Yes, I do. Thank you for the concern, I think." Aery replied, fingering her necklace.

"Always in Midgar, right?" Scarlet questioned, reaching for the metal. "Only royalty can survive on Midgar, sweetie, and you… Hate to burst your bubble kid, but you aint no royalty. "I think you stole this necklace."

"Scarlet, that isn't any of your business, so keep your greedy paws off." Aery said, jerking away. "Goodbye!" Aery exclaimed, walking away from this mistress. She sighed in relief, knowing that was the last time she would ever have to deal with that woman's selfishness and her mind games. Aery couldn't be happier. "I'm free! Woo-hoo!"

After walking for a few hours in the snow, Aery began to wonder what working what a fish market would be like. She had never particularly liked how the smelled at any time. The very thought of her hands having to always have that kind of scent made her sick to her stomach, and Aery came to the assumption that she was going to loathe the rest of her life. After all, she had always wondered what or _who _was in Midgar waiting for her. As much as she loved her friends at the orphanage, she hadn't really every considered them to be her real family.

For once in her life, Aery wanted to find a home waiting for her. In that home, there would always be somebody waiting to greet her with open arms and a warm smile. It wouldn't even matter if there wasn't any gil to help them survive, just as long as there was plenty of love to spare. All of it sounded 

sickeningly sweet to the young girl, but she knew that it was better to dream of the impossible, than to become a Scarlet, which was just as worse; that Aery was sure of.

Aery stopped walking for a moment, looking at a sign. It was either Gongaga or Nibelheim; it was either Nibelheim or Gongaga. Quite frankly, Aery didn't feel the need to have her hands stink day after day, at the expense of three gil a week. No. But, if she want to Nibelheim, she could easily find a train to take her Midgar, where there was something waiting for her. Still, that was a big risk to take, even _if_ she found a home. Gongaga was clearly the safer choice, but was that a good enough reason to skip out on all her hopes and dreams?

Aery sat on a rock and pondered this a little more. She had absolutely had no clue what could be possibly waiting for her, but the necklace must mean something. But, on other hand, Gongaga had been a fairly friendly, little town. However, if Aery was honest herself, she would never truly discover herself or who she had been before she put into that orphanage, but at least she would be safe somewhere. Midgar couldn't offer that, unless she knew for certain what she was getting herself into. What a decision.

If only Aery had a sign to what she should do…

And, like magic, a small, red puppy came running out of nowhere, taking Aery's hat off of her head. He wagged his tail, as if he was telling her to follow him.

"H-hey!" Aery called, getting up. "I'm a little busy right now. I'm waiting for a…" Aery smiled down at the dog, realizing he was on the right side of the road, in which let to Nibelheim. "Oh, I see." Aery took the hat from his mouth, and placed it back on her head. "I can take a hint."

She sighed, letting all her fear overcome her for just a slight second. Yes, this was a big risk. Yes, there was a chance that she would learn that she would nothing. Yes, she could live to regret it. No, she wouldn't let her fears get the better of her. She wouldn't let all her hopes and dreams disappear without at least giving them a chance to be real. So, Aery gathered up all her nerve and her courage, and started walking.

Only for a brief second, she stopped. Aery turned her head to look at the dog behind her. She nodded and jerked her head slightly, motioning for him to come along if he wanted to. He responded with an excited bark, and ran to catch up with her. And so, the two friends began their journey to the past together.

_This journey hasn't started out so badly. I've already made a new friend, _Aery giggled to herself.


End file.
